Photography Bay

Digital Camera News, Reviews and Tips

Extreme ISO Settings With the D3s, 1D Mark IV and Lightroom 3

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I’ve been digging into Lightroom 3 for a couple of days now.  I’m a big fan of the improvements – happy to see my video files, love the tethered shooting capability, as well as the improved speed. Last night, however, I decided to dig up some of my photos from the Canon 1D Mark IV and Nikon D3s ISO comparisons and take a closer look at the improved noise control that we’ve all heard so much about.

While I experienced a taste of what was to come in the Lightroom 3 beta, I was not prepared for the magnitude of improvement that I saw in the images as I wiped my Lightroom 2 adjustments and made new adjustments in Lightroom 3’s noise control panel.

I could go on and on about it, but you really need to see for yourself. [Read more…]

 

Canon In-Camera HDR Maps Single Exposure to Individual Pixels

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Talk about changing the way HDR is done . . . .

A recently published Canon patent application (see USPTO Appl. No. 12/630,594) reveals a method for altering exposure values at the pixel level, which would allow Canon to produce a camera that captures a much wider dynamic range with a single image.

The lengthy patent application spells out a process whereby the camera captures a preliminary image with normal exposure values and then evaluates the exposure level across the entire image.  After creating an exposure map of the scene, the camera alters the exposure amount at the pixel level for the primary HDR image capture. [Read more…]

Digital Cameras Are in 3% of Households in India, Canon’s Trying to Change That

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DNA India has published an interesting article on Canon’s attempt to break into and, in many ways, create a digital camera market in India.  In order to get Canon cameras into the hands of Indian consumers, Canon is taking a grass roots approach by going on a 38 city tour with all sorts of Canon cameras, lenses and accessories and simply letting people try them out. [Read more…]

Canon Voice Recognition Camera Patent: “Say Cheese”

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We’ve got menus, buttons and touch screens to help use operate our cameras.  However, imagine telling your subjects to “say cheese” and the camera listens to your command as well, waits for people to smile and handles the shutter button for you.  The latter portion of those operations is are already available on today’s cameras with features like SmileShot and ShutterSmile, which wait for smiles before releasing the shutter.  And, if one of Canon’s latest patents comes to life, we could have the voice recognition features on our cameras in the near future. [Read more…]

Daros Films’ “Leave Me” Puts Canon Camera in Pivotal Role

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Leave Me is a  short film that centers around a broken Canon DSLR and the images within.  While the human element makes the film, it’s a very cool use of a camera to tie it all together.

The film was shot with a Panasonic HVX200 with a Brevis35 lens adapter and Nikon primes.

Extra credit if you can identify the camera in the film.

Canon Shows Off 1D Mark IV in the Hands of Vincent Laforet

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Vincent Laforet VW Commercial

Canon has launched a new Shooter’s Insight video series in the Canon Digital Learning Center featuring the 1D Mark IV with Vincent Laforet.  A number of episodes appear to be in the works and “coming soon” that will focus on Laforet’s use of the 1D Mark IV in a recent VW spec commercial.

More on this series can be found online at the Canon Digital Learning Center.

Canon 5D Mark II Firmware Update Version 2.0.7

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Canon has issued a firmware update for the 5D Mark II.  Firmware version 2.0.7 addresses the following issues, which were introduced in firmware versions 2.0.4 and 2.0.3.

  1. Fixes a phenomenon in which the aperture exhibits abnormal movement when shooting movies in manual exposure mode and Aperture Priority AE (Av mode) using some Canon lenses (such as macro lenses).
  2. Fixes a phenomenon in which the exposure level shown in the LCD panel differs from what is shown in the viewfinder when shooting still images in manual exposure mode.
  3. Fixes a phenomenon in which the Wireless File Transmitter (WFT-E4 or WFT-E4 II) may not automatically power off when used for FTP transfers.

Download and installation instructions for the firmware are available on Canon’s website.

Canon Photography in the Parks Contest

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Canon Photography in the Parks

Canon has announced the 2010 edition of its annual Photography in the Parks photo contest.  This year, contestants will have the opportunity to win a number of prizes including the Canon 5D Mark II and EF 24-105mm f/4L lens, Canon 7D, Rebel T2i or PowerShot G11.

Full details about the contest can be found in Canon’s Digital Learning Center.

The complete announcement is also included below. [Read more…]